Space.com - 5/27/13

The merger is occurring 11 billion light-years away, meaning that astronomers are seeing the two colliding galaxies as they were about 3 billion years after the Big Bang that created the universe. During this epoch, "red and dead" elliptical galaxies full of old stars were common.

Fu and his colleagues initially thought the two merging galaxies were a singleton, dubbed HXMM01, when they saw it with the European Space Agency's infrared Herschel space telescope.

But follow-up observations with a variety of other instruments, both on the ground and in space, revealed that HXMM01 is actually two galaxies on a collision course, separated by about 62,000 light-years at the moment.

EarthSky.org-5/26/13, Deborah Byrd

This photo from Mike O’Neal shows Jupiter, Venus and Mercury on May 25, 2013, one day before they are closest

The planetary trio has begun! That’s when three planets fit within a circle with a 5-degree, or smaller, diameter. Jupiter, Venus and Mercury meet that definition of a planetary trio from May 24-29, 2013. And they’ll be even closer – all be about 3 degrees apart – as evening dusk falls on May 25, 26 and 27. May 26 is the closest grouping of these three planets until the year 2021. If your sky is clear – and your horizon unobstructed – look for the planets in the west as soon as the sun sets on these May 2013 evenings. You’ll easily find the two brightest planets there: Venus and Jupiter. The innermost planet Mercury is fainter, but you’ll see it. Some are calling this late May 2013 event a triple conjunction, but a more fitting and descriptive name is planetary trio.

Link: Earthsky.org

earthsky.org - 5/22/13, Deborah Byrd

You’ll find the bright moon near the planet Saturn on the evening of May 22, 2013, and the star Spica to the west (right) of the moon and Saturn. Although both Saturn and Spica shine brightly, they’ll be harder than usual to see tonight because of the lunar glare. Can you see them? Binoculars might help, if you have them.

The moon is in a waxing gibbous phase. It’s getting big in the sky, and will turn full on the night of May 24/25. In the Northern hemisphere, we often call this particular full moon the Flower Moon, Rose Moon or Strawberry Moon. The full moon will barely clip the Earth’s penumbral shadow, but this eclipse will be so shallow and faint that’ll be virtually impossible to observe.

Full Flower Moon shines from dusk till dawn on May 24/25

L.A. Times- 5/17/13, Deborah Netburn

It's 1.7 miles long. Its surface is covered in a sticky black substance similar to the gunk at the bottom of a barbecue. If it impacted Earth it would probably result in global extinction. Good thing it is just making a flyby.

Asteroid 1998 QE2 will make its closest pass to Earth on May 31 at 1:59 p.m. PDT.

Scientists are not sure where this unusually large space rock, which was discovered 15 years ago, originated from. But the mysterious sooty substance on its surface could indicate it may be the result of a comet that flew too close to the sun, said Amy Mainzer, who tracks near-Earth objects at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. It might also have leaked out of the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, she said.